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United States ex-Congressman Mel Reynolds has accused the federal government of preventing him from revealing information about Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe’s secret dealings with U.S. officials to bust sanctions.
Reynolds was deported from Zimbabwe in February, officially for overstaying his visa but – according to him – because he had stumbled on damaging information about secret dealings between Mugabe and U.S. government officials helping the despot evade targetted sanctions.
“He called a news conference in Chicago Wednesday with plans to divulge information but said he was asked to meet with law enforcement officials first,” the Associated Press said.
Reynolds repeated claims that he was targetted and eventually deported from Zimbabwe to South Africa because he had threatened to reveal the secrets of U.S. businessmen who violated Washington sanctions in their support of Mugabe’s discredited regime.
The sanctions were imposed in 2001 as punishment for Mugabe’s election rigging and rampant human rights abuses.
“They arrested me because they wanted to stop me from spying,” Reynolds said, adding that he had uncovered serious human rights abuses by the Mugabe regime.
Reynolds told journalists how he was detained for several days “in an overcrowded cell with a sickening stench”.
“I didnt eat for five days. They pushed me into the latrine at one point and I cut my foot wide open. They wouldnt let me go to the hospital for five days,” said Reynolds, the former Democratic Representative for Illinois in the U.S. Congress.
One U.S. Senator has already been convicted for receiving payment in order to campaign for lifting of sanctions against Mugabe while another is awaiting trial on a similar charge.